UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In a rare conclusion to a collegiate matchup, the Illinois men's gymnastics team fought to a 317.650–317.650 tie against Penn State at the 2026 Sam Mikulak Men's Gymnastics Invitational.
On the rings, Hasan Aydogdu delivered a standout performance, posting a 14.500 to keep Illinois within striking distance of the Nittany Lions.
Garrett Schooley, who was later crowned vault champion, boosted the Illinois team total with his 14.400 performance on vault.
As the meet moved into the later stages, the Illini surged on the parallel bars. Vahe Petrosyan led the charge with a 14.050, while Samuel Kaplan added a crucial 13.650. Kaplan proved to be a workhorse for the Orange and Blue, competing in every event to finish with an all-around total of 75.550.
The meet continued on with high bar routines. Illinois utilized a 13.750 from Hasan Aydogdu to post a 50.800 event score.
The Illini found their rhythm with a steady performance on the floor exercise, led by Nathan Whitaker's 14.550. Garrett Schooley added a strong 13.950 to help the Illini post a 53.000 team score in the fifth rotation, which was enough to pull into a dead heat with Penn State's final total.
Illinois ended the night on the pommel horse, where Brandon Dang anchored the pommel rotation with a meet-high 14.650.
"While we made some big improvements from last week to this week, we still have a long way to go to achieve our goals," Head Coach Daniel Ribeiro said. "The energy was great today and the guys did a fantastic job responding to major mistakes, but we are still having too many of those. With Big Ten play starting next week, we will be making some adjustments to improve from our 62.5 percent hit ratio this week."
The Illini face Penn State on the road once again next week, this time in a Big Ten record dual.
